The Toronto Maple Leafs have a rich history that includes numerous All-Stars, Stanley Cup winners and Hall-of-Fame players. There have been 852 players who have donned the Blue and White since their entry into the NHL in 1917, with dozens wearing the same jersey number over the years.
In this completely non-scientific exercise, we’ll take a look at who wore which number and vote on who was the best. Some decisions will be so apparent that voting will not be necessary, as in the case of #93(unless there is a sizeable faction that believes that Alexander Godynyuk had a better Leaf career than Doug Gilmour).
#2
Honorable Mentions
Larry Hillman – Winner of six Stanley Cups, who was a member of eight NHL teams in a 22 –year career, Hillman played sporadically for Toronto on the three consecutive Cup winners from 1962 – 1964, but played a much larger role on their last Cup victory in 1967.
Ian Turnbull – An offensively-gifted blueliner who paired effectively with Hall-of-Famer Borje Salming on the Leafs blueline in the late 70’s - early ‘80’s. Turnbull posted the most points in a season by a defenseman in club history (79 points in 1977) and scored a team record(for a defenseman) five goals in one game.
Sylvain Lefebvre – The defensive-minded blueliner played only two seasons in Toronto after being acquired from the Canadiens in 1992, but the Leafs went to the Western Conference Final in both seasons. Lefebvre was traded along with Wendel Clark in the Mats Sundin deal in 1994 and won a Stanley Cup in Colorado in 1996.
Finalists
George Reginald “Red… Horner (1928-1940)
Toronto Totals – GP - 490, G – 42, A – 110, Pts – 152, PIM - 1264
Stanley Cup Championships – 1 (1932)
Hockey Hall of Fame – Inducted 1965
As renowned for his toughness and defensive ability as Tim Horton a generation later, Horner joined the Maple Leafs as a 19-year-old in 1928 and played his entire 12-year career in Toronto. He was a member of the 1932 Stanley Cup winning club. Horner led the NHL in penalty minutes eight times and served as team captain from 1938 until his retirement in 1940.
Carl Brewer(1958-1965, 1980)
Career Totals(with Toronto) – GP – 473, G – 19, A – 136, Pts – 155, PIM – 917
Stanley Cup Championships – 3(1962-64)
First-Team NHL All-Star - 1963
Second-Team NHL All-Star – 1962 & 1965
Brewer was a key component of the Leafs defensive corps that won three straight championships in the early 1960’s, He finished second in voting for the Calder to Ralph Backstrom in 1959, in the top four for the Norris Trophy in 1962 and 63 and was a First or Second-Team NHL All-Star three times until abruptly retiring from the NHL in 1965 due to media pressure and squabbles with teammates and coach Punch Imlach.
After a stint with Canada’s national team and playing in Europe, Brewer’s right were traded to Detroit along with Frank Mahovlich in 1968. After playing one year with the Wings and two in St. Louis, Brewer signed with the WHA’s Toronto Toros before retiring in 1974, but surprisingly made a comeback with Toronto in 1979 at age 41 with Imlach as Leafs GM.
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A few interesting tidbits from the Fantasy Guide edition of the Hockey News just released this past week. Four commentators; Jeff O’Neill, Mike Johnson, PJ Stock and Kevin Weekes, predicted that Leafs coach Randy Carlyle would be the first NHL coach fired this season, while O’Neill chose team captain Dion Phaneuf to be the defenseman most likely to “surprise people in a negative way….
In spite of the dire predictions regarding Carlyle and Phaneuf, four of the six panelists believe that Toronto will be one of the Canada-based NHL clubs to make the playoffs.
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